Draghi handed U.S. tech giants a gift

Big story from Sky news. It is a mistake to think the DSA alone is going to fix this. This requires more, including and most particularly enforcement of GDPR Art 9 news.sky.com/story/the-x-...

The latest news about the Commission's proposals on consent banners is all a distraction. Consent notices are a form of compliance theatre. Online advertising is largely a data free-for-all. The industry introduced consent notices in 2018 as a thin veneer to cover the vast underlying data breach.

Another chilling investigation results regarding data brokers and real-time bidding highlighting how real-time bidding is not only a general data protection issue, but also poses serious national security threats. netzpolitik.org/2025/databro...

BREAKING: Yesterday Grand Theft Auto VI maker Rockstar Games fired dozens of people, all of whom were involved in union efforts. A British union calls it "blatant and ruthless" union-busting. Take-Two Interactive says it was due to misconduct. Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

If you are a parent of a TikTok user under 16 we want to hear from you. Please DM.

Note to Clare O'Donoghue Velikic: I agree industry experience is valuable, and am an industry defector But the DPC ex-Meta appointee is likely legally bound to make no criticism of Meta, like Sarah Wynn-Williams Also the complaint is against the process, not the person www.bbc.com/news/article...

Exactly. Ireland needs a Plan B. @bentonra.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

This seems an u nreasonable request, no?

Lobbying for tech is booming corporateeurope.org/en/2025/10/b...

Euractiv's @claudiemoreau.bsky.social on our complaint to the European Commission against Ireland's appointing ex-Meta lobbyist as its new Data Protection Commissioner www.euractiv.com/news/complai...

Coverage of our complaint to the European Commission v Ireland over appointment of ex-Meta lobbyist as data protection watchdog www.rte.ie/news/busines...

Our complaint v Ireland is in the FT newsletter this morning Details of complaint --> www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

We filled a complaint against Ireland to the European Commission today. Ireland has appointed an ex-Meta lobbyist as its new Data Protection Commissioner. This will be interpreted by the tech industry as a signal of impunity. The European Commission must intervene. www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

The question of this moment is whether Europe will be a bastion of democratic resilience or a vassal. My piece in Tech Policy Press. www.techpolicy.press/europe-isnt-...

Shock in Brussels and outrage across civil society. This story is not going away. euobserver.com/digital/ar6c...

Our second "Pay or OK" paper for EU watchdogs: not only does the law say "no" to forced consent; the business case is terrible, too. Publishers and advertisers will lose if users are forced to consent to the RTB & adtech data free-for-all. www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

Is it legal for publishers to force you to "consent" to a data free-for-all as payment for entering their sites & apps? No. Over the summer we have been talking to EU data watchdogs, detailing the case law and enforcement decisions. www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

Irish Justice Minister: "The sale of data by Real-Time Bidding platforms is NOT ILLEGAL..." This is wild. There is no way RTB data sale is legal as it currently operated. www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=20...

Irish Justice Minister: "The sale of data by Real-Time Bidding platforms is not illegal..." Question from @ivanabacik.bsky.social was: does the State buy RTB location data. This is wild! There is no way RTB data sale is legal as it currently operated. www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=20...

Note for Irish Department of Finance: you should have a plan for what you will do if/when AI bursts and the large tech firms ask for massive bail outs/collapse

‘is europe going to be a beacon of democratic resilience - or a vassal.’ - @johnnyryan.bsky.social on *the* question facing european leaders at @article19.bsky.social @openmarkets.bsky.social conference

@tomjwright.bsky.social it was great to see you Tom. Two pieces that may be of interest www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Rereading Lord of the Rings At the very start, why does Gildor not escort Frodo to Rivendell as soon as he hears the Black Riders are pursuing him and Gandalf is missing? He even tells Frodo he might not survive. But instead he provides a feast and some cryptic chat, and then toddles off.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee announces award goes to Venezuelan opposition leader for opposing authoritarianism www.nobelpeaceprize.org/articles/nob...

Significant

DG Comp, ladies & gentlemen.

Big piece in POLITICO asking about the independence of Ireland's process of appointing people to its Data Protection Commission. There is deep unease in Brussels about Ireland appointing a former Meta lobbyist as Meta's watchdog. Now questions about who was involved. www.politico.eu/article/big-...

As I write in The Guardian this morning, the danger of this moment is that if Europe does not act against Trump now, it will never act again. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

After 8 years of inaction, the DPC now claims that RTB adtech does not provide location data to dodgy firms. Wrong. Meet "Patternz" for example: An Israeli surveillance tool built on RTB data that provides a targeted individual's coordinates and "driving path" www.iccl.ie/wp-content/u...

This peculiar and alarming. Labour leader @ivanabacik.bsky.social Ivana Bacik asks Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan what he has done to ensure the DPC finally acts against the data free-for-all that sends people's movements to countless data brokers. vimeo.com/1124123069?f...

My speech at the European Parliament: rather than undermine the GDPR in its proposed "Omnibus", the European Commission should intelligently apply the GDPR as a tool for European competitiveness, national security, and protecting children online. www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 1948 "The only hope lay in the revival of democracy as a fighting faith" archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes....

Significant www.ft.com/content/3aac...

From @moonalice.com in The Guardian today www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

On @antonsavage.bsky.social NewsTalk Radio this morning: We warned Helen McEntee (then Minister for Justice) five years ago about Data Protection Commission's refusal to stop the flow of data about Irish people to data brokers - as now exposed by RTE Prime Time. www.iccl.ie/news/iccl-wa...

New paper from OpenAI reportedly acknowledges that incorrect assertions are inevitable even with perfect data (I say reportedly because I have not read the paper yet) arxiv.org/pdf/2509.04664

Cantillon in the mornings Irish Times

The Govt is on the wrong track here. www.rte.ie/news/2025/09...

The DPC learning about data brokers in 2025

This is the playbook, folks. If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away. Do not be quiet in this moment.

Important question in the Dail today after the RTE Prime Time expose on the sale of data about people's locations @ivanabacik.bsky.social asks @simonharrisireland.bsky.social After 8 years of inaction on Real-Time Bidding, how can you continue to have confidence in the Data Protection Commission?

The Data Protection Commission has cost the Irish taxpayer €162.3 million since it was first informed of the RTB data breach in 2017. See table --> www.iccl.ie/wp-content/u...

This is a shocking breech, individual phone tracking movements for sale without knowledge. The Irish DPC has serious questions to answer around ongoing inaction

Competition enforcement protects democracy. Europe's enforcers forgot this. They thought it was "just a side dish" (@cristinacaffarra.bsky.social will remember which top EU enforcer made that daft remark) The same goes for data protection enforcement. We need our enforcers to enforce.

Every 4 years Ireland's data protection "regulator" writes to the Irish Council for Civil Liberties to say their investigation into shady Real Time Bidding ad networks' surveillance of <everyone> is at a "mature" stage and its release is imminent And surveillance + sale of data to ANYONE goes on

"Should a significant national security incident now occur as a result of RTB data we will be obliged to make this correspondence public and clarify where responsibility lies." That day has arrived.

We cooperated with RTE PrimeTime over the last year on this very significant story about RTB data exposing the movements of Irish people, including military and political personnel. Link to this morning's preview piece is here --> www.rte.ie/news/primeti...

I'll speak at the European Parliament on 24 Sept on how finally enforcing the GDPR on the US and Chinese tech giants is critical to protect people, European security, and innovation. It is strategically essential that the Commission ensure Ireland acts. futureofwork.fes.de/news-list/e/...

25 years in online news and never once have I gotten any sense that mainstream reporters understand that they don't have to credibly repeat the claims of companies without nuance, context, or correction